Safety: The #1 Priority of the Toy Industry

Safety Quick Links

Overview

Toy safety is the number one, year-round priority for the Toy Industry Association and its members. All toys sold in the United States – no matter where they are produced – are highly regulated. Conformance to tough U.S. safety standards must be demonstrated by third-party testing labs accredited by the federal government. Safety is not something that can be added in after a toy is made … it is an ongoing process that begins when a new idea is conceived and is addressed at every step of design and production, through the arrival of a toy on a store shelf and then into the home. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) consistently ranks toys among the safest of 15 consumer product categories commonly found in the home.

TIA’s toy safety assurance initiatives are built upon three pillars that focus on:

Leadership

Since the first toy safety requirements were published in the early 1930s, experts from industry, government, consumer groups, retailers, academia and the medical profession have worked together to ensure they are continually revised to keep pace with innovation in products. Updates to these standards are shaped by the latest child development research, medical and toy-related incident data, risk assessment techniques, scientific reports, and product and manufacturing innovations from around the globe. U.S. standards are recognized among the most protective toy safety specifications in the world.

TIA's Safety Standards and Technical Committee monitors activity on issues related to product safety, standards, testing and quality assurance issues that affect the toy industry. The Committee helps formulate the Association’s policies and positions relating to such matters to advocate on behalf of all segments of the toy industry.

TIA’s Toy Safety Report

TIA and its members are dedicated to ensuring product safety and are deeply concerned anytime the safety of toys is called into question. Unfortunately, there have been an increasing number of annual reports alleging unsafe toys that are unfounded and fail to employ the federal standards, test requirements and accredited labs that are required by law.

As part of its ongoing efforts to provide parents and caregivers with accurate information about safe play, TIA conducted a comprehensive analysis of one such annual list – U.S. PIRG’s “Trouble in Toyland” – looking at reports issued from 2008 through 2013. The analysis determined that PIRG’s data is consistently unreliable and repeatedly unable to support the allegations that the toys identified in its reports present any danger to children at play.

TIA is a supporter of the Know Before You Fly campaign, which is designed to provide unmanned aircraft system (UAS) (aka “drone”) users with the information and guidance they need to fly safely and responsibly. The campaign was developed by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and the Academy of Model Aeronautics, in partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration.

TIA often receives questions from members regarding how to insure that they are in compliance with marking requirements for toy guns in all jurisdictions in which they wish to distribute these products. Indeed, this is a confusing area, as comprehensive federal requirements have existed for many years (at 15CFR 1150 and incorporated by reference under ASTM F963, section 4.30), but several subnational jurisdictions have enacted requirements that were superseded by such federal requirements and which differ and sometimes conflict with these long-established federal requirements.